Heaven or Hell
by Jajjo
Summary: O/S with Jasper & Alice. Jasper was born and raised as an army brat while Alice was the small town girl who longed for the city life. What happens when they meet? And what happens when jasper has to leave? All human


A/N: I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to read this. This was my oneshot for** Fandoms4tsunami** and I am so happy to be able to help by sharing this story with my readers. It's been a long journey but here we are. I really do miss writing so I might give it another shot.

But for now: Here's a cute fluff story with Jalice for you to read and enjoy... and of course: review.

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><p>Heaven or hell?<br>By Bambino

_I still remember the first day I saw her. She was walking the halls at school – running actually, because she was late. Her hair swung as she repeatedly excused herself, squeezing past students and teachers.  
><em>

_She was breathtaking._

_I remember how I gazed after her as she turned and entered the classroom where she was about to have math for the next two hours.  
>That was the classroom I was supposed to be in. It was my first day at the new school and I was late. I stepped into that classroom and entered my new future, my future with her – Alice Cullen. Even though I didn't realize it until months later, it was true love.<br>It still is._

_~o0o~_

Being an army brat is never easy. You move around a lot and making new friends seemed useless; there's no point in getting attached when you only have to say goodbye a few months later.  
>My parents always said it would be different, but I never got my hopes up. That's why, when we got to the dark and cloudy Forks, Washington, I was prepared for the usual: wake up, attend school, get back home to do your homework and help out around the house.<p>

My father – General Whitlock – was not stationed in Forks but a place close by and my parents decided that it would do us all some good if me and my mother stayed here, keeping a small distance from my father while he worked.

I think that's why they kept telling me that it would be different. And yet, I found myself driving a jeep to school, music blasting from the stereo, as I considered by potential introductions. Guess you could see that as one positive side in all of this: every time we started out at a new place I had one new town to add to my introduction.

"_Jasper Hale, born in Texas but I've moved around a lot since I was two. Before coming here we lived in Hawaii." _

"_Jasper Hale, son of General Whitlock. I just moved here from Hawaii." _

"_Hale, Jasper. Nice to meet you." _

"_Hi. I'm Jasper." _

Of all the lame introductions those were the only ones I could come up with. So yeah… I guess moving around all the time wasn't so brilliant after all.

The school wasn't possible to miss. It was stationed on the side of the road and, considering there weren't a lot of big buildings in the area, the small yet looming high school was easily recognized.

As I pulled into the lot, I noticed that the kids around here didn't seem to own cars or, if they did, they weren't glamorous. I felt twinge of embarrassment as I parked my relatively new car next to a decrepit Honda. Guess I could always play the rich kid angle if nothing else helped me out at this school.

~o0o

Entering the room I could literally feel all eyes on me; so much for blending in on your first day. But then again: I was late and classes had already started. So to everyone else I was an intruder.

"This is Math with Ms. Cohen right?"

"Yes. And you are here because…?" the slightly elderly woman looked me over and it was like seeing a light bulb get lit above her head once she got it. "Oh of course, how silly of me… you must be Mr. Whitlock?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Well don't be shy dear. Have a seat. I'm sure there is one seat available somewhere."

She was right about that. I'd spotted the only free chair the moment I got in. I hadn't been looking for a place to sit; I'd been looking for her. And there she was, sitting next to the one empty desk, a brightly curious expression on her face.

"Yes ma'am."

"Class, this is Jasper Whitlock. He just moved here from Hawaii. Let's all make sure to help him feel welcome. And lets hope that Mr. Whitlock here brought some sun with him from his last home."

Not bothering to listen to the rest of the typical rambling of a new teacher I headed for my seat, head ducked and trying to avoid eye contact as much as possible.

The classroom was crowded; it wasn't large to begin with and plenty of students were packed in. Naturally everyone tried to get seats as close to the back as possible or, if nothing else, at least close to the walls. This left me to sit right in the middle. What on earth that beautiful green eyed girl had been thinking when she picked that seat, I didn't know.

Ms. Cohen picked up on her lecture eventually and I settled into my chair, keeping my eyes on the board and my arms crossed across my chest.

"She's wrong you know."

The light voice caught me off guard and I adjusted my gaze to my left only to see that beautiful girl smiling while she kept her gaze down.

"What?"

"Ms. Cohen. She's lying. She knows we never get sun here in Forks." The smile widened and the girl looked up at the board, acting as if she was paying attention. "Must be strange moving from sunny Hawaii to a small town with eternal rain."

Focusing my gaze at the board as well I lowered my voice slightly. "Not really. Every place starts to feel the same after a while."

"People as well?"

"Excuse me?"

"You said every place starts looking the same. Does that mean that after a while every person you meet is just the same and you can't be bothered?"

"That's not what I meant-"

"Yes or no Jasper Whitlock?" Damn this girl was bossy. And using my full name like that: it almost seemed as if she was mocking me.

"No. Everyone is not the same."

She didn't answer after that. She just kept her eyes on the board and a small smile was playing on her lips. Her sharp words were slightly unsettling.

"Well in that case," my eyes darted back to her face. This time she was looking at me, revealing the hint of brown that her eyes held. "-I'm Alice. Nice to meet you."

~o0o~

I started looking forward to math after that day. Because every class meant I got to sit next to Alice and small talk with her while trying to look busy. She always kept a smile on her face and after each lesson I had learned something new about her. Like the fact that she was 17 years old and was originally from here. She had never been abroad and she had two older brothers – Emmett & Edward – who both attended college in New York. Alice favorite color was navy blue and she hated math: which explained why she always was so eager to talk rather than work on the assignments we were given. And she was one to talk.

"I think I'd like to go to college in New York or someplace really sunny. Being stuck in a town like Forks really gets you to appreciate the sun a lot more."

"The sun is great and all but you get tired of it after a while. Trust me."

"Coming from Mr. Super-Tanned himself! Any idea how much I would kill for a tan like yours?" I looked up, shrugging as Alice rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying. I love the sun."

"And I love the peace and quiet we used to have around here before you started talking to Jasper every single class, Alice." A snarky voice muttered. We both looked behind us at Mike Newton, his face displaying his annoyance as he tried to concentrate on the numbers on the board.

"Right… sorry Mike."

We turned around. From the corner of my eye, I glanced at Alice. My snicker was impossible to hold back when I saw she was fighting a smile.

~o0o~

"We should go out sometimes." I closed my locker to find Alice leaning against the wall next to me all bubbly and bouncing.

"Excuse me?"

"I think we should go out."

Well damn, I'd heard correctly then. One of my rules had been to not get attached to anyone but it was becoming impossible when it came to Alice. She was always there, making me slightly happier. And lately it hadn't just been math. Lunch, free time before and after classes…we hung out every spare second we had at school. It wasn't smart and I knew that, but I enjoyed her company far too much.

And now she wanted to go out - something that was even more troublesome than sharing a sandwich during lunch.

"Define 'going out,'" I stammered.

She rolled her eyes. Linking her arm began to drag me through the halls of school.

"You know; the usual. We get something to eat, I can show you all the boring sights of Forks and, at the end of the night, you drive me home and I'll see you at school the next day."

"Sounds like a date."

"Of course it is a date!" She stopped walking and turned to face me. "Come on Jazz. We spend all of our time at school together, we get along and, frankly, don't you think people are already questioning if we are going out?"

Glancing around us I could see some of the students trying to look discreet as they leaned against their lockers, eavesdrop.

"Alice…"

"Come on, please Jasper! Don't leave me hanging here."

It was hard to resist when she was whining and flashing that killer smile, something that she always distracted me with.

Sighing in frustration I smiled slightly and pulled her with me towards math.

"Fine. What day do you want to go out?"

~o0o~

The date night turned out to be… interesting. We decided to go out on a Friday night, leaving Alice the possibility to tell her parents she could work on her homework during the weekend.

We met up outside a small diner and I had to admit – she looked beautiful. Her long dark brown hair hung loose and she was wearing a black skirt matched with a navy blue top. Strapped on her feet where a pair of high heels and when she saw me her smile perfected her look of the evening.  
>I actually felt rather lame walking up to her while wearing a pair of jeans and a green t-shirt.<p>

Even though the diner wasn't fancy or anything we ended up staying there for a few hours before walking towards my car so that I could drop Alice off.

"You really don't have to drive me home Jasper."

"Don't worry about it. Besides: we said this was a date." She looked at me confused by statement so I kept on talking "If it's a date, we are going to do this right. It's my responsibility to drive you home, Alice Cullen."

Giggling she closed the door behind her.

"Well okay then, Mr. Whitlock. Take me home."

I nodded and started the engine while tuning in the stereo on a mellow song that filled the car with a comforting and caressing sound.

"Oh and Jasper?"

"Yeah?"

"In case I forget to tell you later on: I had a really nice time tonight."

~o0o~

Days followed and so did dates. By our third date, I kissed Alice on her cheek and walked her to her front door. By the fifth, I had been pushed gently against a wall as Alice kissed me tenderly. And by the tenth date we found ourselves loosing track of time while getting busy in the back seat of my car.

"Do you want to come inside for a moment? My parents shouldn't be home until later," Alice asked, her voice low.

Her nose touched mine as she sat up right and fixed her hair. Not that she needed to. She looked adorable when her hair was slightly messy.

"I'd love to, but I really have to get going. I promised my mum I would be home in time for dinner with dad."

"I wish you'd tell me about your family sometimes. The whole 'being an army brat' thing doesn't really give me that much information." Her mouth turned down in a sad smile and I sighed before pulling her towards me and stroking her cheek gently.

"If it was worth talking about, I would, okay? But I'd much rather spend my time with you talking about something else." Snorting she gave me a quick peck.

"Right... because we do so much talking these days." With the booth of us laughing I let go of her and opened the car door so that I could follow her to the door.

"How about another time though? I could come over tomorrow if you want," I offered.

"Sure. I promised to meet Angela after I woke up but you could stop by after dinner?"

"Sounds great. I'll be here around six."

"Okay. I'll be waiting." We stopped and Alice smiled up at me. "Until tomorrow then?"

"Until tomorrow Ms. Cullen."

Leaning down, I kissed her good night and watched her close the door behind her, both of us setting our minds on what would happen tomorrow night.

~o0o~

I was a mess when knocking on her door the next day around 6 o'clock. After dinner I'd been going through in my head a proper way to tell her. How to explain what was going to happen. But really how did you tell someone like Alice that kind of news?

That's probably why when she opened the door I just blurred it out as fast as I could.

"We're leaving."

She blinked, frowned and arched an eyebrow.

"Now?"

Taking a deep breath, I shook my head and took her hand in mine.

"I don't mean me and you. I mean I'm leaving, with my family."

"Oh…" she looked shocked, and pale. I probably did too as we stood there in silence. "It's your dad right? He got moved again?"

"Yes."

"Crap." Her statement was simple and her voice was flat but the meaning behind it was clear.

I followed her inside and shut the door.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know how to tell you."

"You found out last night right?" Nodding I watched her process everything. "When are you leaving?"

"In two weeks."

"Well that doesn't really give us much time now does it?"

She was trying to put on a brave face. In a way it was good; I didn't want to see her upset, but something in her eyes gave it away anyway.

"Hey, listen." Pulling her close to me I inhaled the sweet and familiar scent that belonged to her before continuing. "I don't want to leave okay? If I could stay here I would. I've moved around a lot in my life but never have I wanted to stay because of a person before. You do that to me, Alice Cullen. And I already knew after I met you that this could turn out bad. I figured I was both in heaven and hell at the same time and that it wouldn't be easy getting out."

"You're comparing me to hell now?"

"And heaven." Sighing I pulled back so that I could look at her. "You're… amazing. I really care about you and I don't want to leave. When I came here and saw you I thought 'wow she's so beautiful'. And you were kind. I was in awe but at the same time I knew that getting to know you wouldn't be good in the long run. I mean I love spending time with you; it's like my personal heaven. But now… when I have to leave – and we both knew I had to at some point – it's like you've become my personal hell. Because leaving you is gonna be exactly that: hell."

"I don't want you to go Jasper." There were tears in her eyes – I felt as if I had been punched in the stomach. I hated this! I knew I should never have broken my rules about not getting attached or talking to people more than necessarily.

"I know. But I'll never forget you Alice. Remember that."

She nodded before leaning in to me. I closed my arms around her and rested my chin on top of her head, waiting until the only thing we could hear were the uneven breaths we were taking.

~o0o~

Time passed and there wasn't a moment during the day that I wasn't thinking about her. My beautiful Alice: her green eyes and that smile that could light up a whole room.

1 year and 7 months later, I was 18 years old and finally done with my parents. I was starting out fresh, away from everything that had to do with military. And what better way to do that than by starting out in college?

I'd chosen Berkeley – or rather, my parents connections got me into Berkley – and I'd had a few classes already. It wasn't hard and I actually felt relaxed after my classes. It was just so… different.

I was walking to school with a take away cup filled with coffee in one hand and my bag slung over my shoulder. It was pretty warm outside and the sky was clear blue.

My mind was set on today's classes and what I would do later on. Some guys and I had made some plans to catch a game at a bar close by and, considering they were you're average frat boys, they were already bragging about their fake ID's.

"Shit! I'm sorry." Daydreaming like I had been, I should have been the one apologizing when someone walked into me and tumbled to the ground. "I should have looked where I was going but I was so busy reviewing this essay that is due today that I completely forgot about the fact that I was walking. I'm so clumsy sometimes."

Laughing softly, I bent down to help her out gathering the books.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad I didn't spill my coffee on you." She laughed: such a sweet… oddly familiar… sound.

"Thanks." She looked up at me for the first time. A moment passed before we both bolted up.

_Her._

_Alice Cullen. _

"Alice…"

"Oh hell."

~o0o~

She'd graduated high school on time and was now studying sociology at Berkeley. She still looked beautiful… even if she did try and stay serious whenever our paths would cross. I figured she had to live close by considering we always arrived at the same time outside of college.

It was pretty clear I'd hurt her when I left. I'd always fantasized about a reunion in which I pictured her throwing her arms around me and I would hug her as tightly to me as I could. But instead I was greeted by a serious Alice who only made small talk before hurrying to class.

Not that I blamed her. If I hadn't broken my rules about getting to know people, she would never have been hurt and left behind in a town she didn't really like to begin with.

"How was your night?"

"Fine, thank you. How was yours?"

"It was okay. I stayed in studying actually and watched a game later on."

"Okay then."

Awkward was a proper word for this situation and I wasn't really sure if I should try harder or if I should just back off.

But this was Alice we were talking about. I didn't want to give up on a girl like her.

"So are you seeing anyone-" I didn't even get to finish my question before she started walking faster.

"Look I gotta go. I'm late for class. Bye Jazz!"

She was off awfully quick but I tried to overlook the fact that she had rejected me even before I'd asked her out. Because after all… she'd called me Jazz. And no one else called me Jazz besides my angel.

~o0o~

"I say we order some beers before the game starts. First round on me!"

Everyone cheered Michael on as he approached the bar and ordered four beers. It was a typical guys night out and I needed to ease some tension. So a beer didn't sound bad at all.

"Hey did I tell you guys about this smoking hot girl I met today? She's a social major or something. Anyway she was getting water and someone accidently knocked over this pole that was leaning against the wall and poor thing got hit by the pole in the back and well... you can imagine the rest; hot girl, water all over her shirt. Best morning ever!"

There was snickering and I shook my head, amused. Leave it to Peter to find someone to drool after. We all knew he had it pretty bad for Charlotte but, valuing our lives, we chose to shut up about it and let him brag about meeting other girls.

"Guys… act cool okay… but that super hot girl I was talking about just walked in to the bar. She's standing next to the jukebox."

Naturally when someone tells their friends to act cool the attempt fails miserably. Because obviously all of us turned around and saw the girl: her long dark hair framing a perfect face and a pair of green eyes with a hint of brown in them.

_Shit._

She was looking at us and after a moment of hesitation she started walking towards our table.

"Guys she's coming over here. This is gonna be so awesome!"

She stopped in front of me and I took a gulp of my beer before standing up.

"Jasper can I talk to you outside for a second?"

Not what I was expecting really but I nodded before quickly glancing over my shoulder.

"Sure Alice. Just let me get my jacket."

We walked in silence and I could feel my friends staring after us until we reached the door and got outside.

"So what did you want to talk about?" might have seemed blunt but I wasn't really sure what was going on anymore.

"I just wanted to ask you a question."

"Okay…"

She sighed and brushed her hair away from her face.

"Was it heaven or hell?"

"Was what heaven or hell?"

"Leaving me behind. You told me that meeting me was both heaven and hell so I just wanted to know if that also applied for leaving me."

"Alice you know it wasn't my choice to leave you."

"Just answer the question, Jasper."

I had to chuckle. She was always so damn bossy.

"Hell. Definitely hell."

"So why didn't you call me then?" Okay so this was not what I was expecting.

"Because that would have made things worse Alice. You think I would have missed you any less if I'd called every day?"

"But I waited. I waited for you to call!"

"And I waited and hoped that we would have the chance to be together again someday. We have that chance now. The real question here is what you want to do with this second chance."

She opened her mouth to speak and shut it again after a while. Locking our eyes to each other's we stood there for a minute or two, letting the other person know how much we missed each other during these years. Until finally she walked up to me and linked her hand with mine and murmured.

"It was hell for me too."

~o0o~

"Brandon is finally down. I swear that kid is getting harder and harder to get to bed."

Alice hushed me quickly. "You'll wake Mary," she murmured.

"I'm sorry love." Walking over quietly I kissed Alice's forehead before leaning against the couch and watching Mary – the most beautiful baby girl there ever was – sleep in Alice's arms. "We should probably get her back to her crib.

"Yeah. I've got it. You go ahead and open up that bottle of red wine I got for us today." Smiling sweetly at me Alice got up, carefully maneuvering herself and Mary to the bedroom.

It was six years after we graduated from college. Brandon had come along a year after our graduation, with Mary entering the world eight months ago.

The bottle of wine was stationed on the top shelf in the kitchen – carefully placed there so that Brandon couldn't reach it. I grabbed it along with two glasses and poured a serving into each.

The dark color looked delicious as I picked up the glasses and walked over to the living room to wait for Alice.

She wasn't gone long. Just long enough that she could gaze at our daughter for a few minutes in the bedroom before joining me. She took one of the glasses from my hand and snuggled up next to me on the couch.

"Long day, darling?"

"The best day, husband." She smiled and tilted her head up so that she could look up at me. "Happy anniversary Jasper."

"Happy anniversary Alice. Here's for us." Holding up my glass I watched Alice reach her hand up in union before taking a sip.

"Man, that tastes good." I couldn't disagree with that. Being married and a father was more than I could ever have dreamt of but working at a construction site all day long and then getting home only to be greeted by a whiney 5-year-old could be exhausting. So a glass of red wine and my wife close to me was just perfect.

"How was your day with the kids?"

"It was fine. Brandon missed you though. He kept asking if we could go and visit daddy at work."

Smiling I pulled Alice closer and buried my face in her soft hair for a moment.

"Why didn't you?"

"I don't know. I guess I figured you would be busy."

"I'm never too busy for you guys."

"Hmm… that's good to know."

Taking Alice's glass from her hand I gently placed our glasses on the table before locking my arms around her and leaning my chin against her head.

It was so peaceful; just the two of us in a candlelit living room. With two perfect children sleeping close by and the realization that it was Saturday tomorrow.

"Hey Jazz?"

"Hm?" Pressing herself closer, Alice closed her eyes and rested her head against my chest.

"Heaven or hell?"

I didn't even need to think about it.

"Heaven… definitely heaven."


End file.
